52% of mid-year budget spent

The government spent 61.5 billion baht, or 52.50 per cent, of the 116.7 billion baht mid-year stimulus budget between March 9 and July 17, Deputy Finance Minister Prutichai Damrongrat revealed on Thursday.

 Mr Prutichai said of the total, 18.1 billion baht had been spent under the project to provide living allowances to low-income people and state officials; 10.1 billion baht on the five-measures, six-months project to cushion the people's economic hardship; 15.8 billion baht on the 15-year free education project; 7.3 billion baht on living allowances for the elderly; and 8.1 billion baht on small community projects such as improvements to rural health stations, roads and small reservoirs and the village health volunteers programme.

The minister said the Comptroller General's Department had been assigned to speed up and complete the spending of the budget as planned by the end of this fiscal year,  Sept 30.